Microbiome Stress Project

A Database to Understand How Microbes Respond to Stress

The Microbiome Stress Project (based at Duke University) is being developed to identify sensitive and resistant microbes subjected to a comprehensive range of natural and anthropogenic stressors across various host and environmental habitats.

The project objectives are to identify how microbial communities change in response to:

(1) One stressor in one environment: How consistent are microbiome responses to the same stressor within the same environment?(2) A range of stressors within an environment: Are there common microbiome responses to different stressors within the same environment?(3) One stressor across environments: Does a given stressor impose consistent effects on microbiomes across multiple environments, including host-associated and free-living systems?(4) General trends of microbiome stressor responses: Are there general impacts of stressors on microbiomes across all environments?

​With this database, we hope to identify indicator microbial taxa to specific stressors and improve our understanding of the natural history of microorganisms.​